topic Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right? in Bankruptcy

BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

99BMWM3 — Wed, 19 May 2021 04:41:45 GMT

I've been reading the many threads and guides on this board about recovering after a BK, how to build to a 700 post-BK, etc. I greatly appreciate everyone for the wealth of knowledge they have helped build here. However, it's all a little overwhelming for me.

The date for creditors to object to my BK7 DC was Monday, 5/17. I spoke with my attorney today (5/18) and was told the DC should be issued very soon - any point between now and 30 days from today. So I'm gearing up to pull reports, verify accuracy, and then begin to rebuild my credit history -- and I am a little unsure of which path to take.

I haven't pulled FICO scores yet, but my Credit Karma FAKO is showing 697 TU and 648 EQ. I burned AMEX, Citi, NFCU (this still hurts), and Synchrony (PayPal Credit). I have GOOD (albeit closed, but still contributing to AAoA... if they factor in, that is) accounts from AMEX (AU), Barclays (AU), Cap One (ind. and AU), Citi (AU), Synchrony (ind.), and USAA (ind.). I have two student loans in good shape, a previous auto loan from PenFed, and my current auto loan thru Chase that is reaffirmed and never late -- will be PIF this autumn when I sell the car as part of moving to a big city.

I ran thru the CapOne pre-qualifer and I'm actually pre-approved for multiple products:

- Platinum MC, 0% intro APR for 9 mths (26.99% after), $0 AF

- QS1 Rewards MC, 26.99% APR, $39 AF

- Secured MC, 26.99% APR, does not clarify if $49/99/200 deposit unless I app

Discover pre-qualifer denied me, got the letter in the mail and the only reason listed was "BANKRUPTCY." Not even going to bother with Citi for obvious reasons. Unfortunately thanks to me, I'm on the NFCU blacklist now.

Should I go for the CapOne Platinum since that's unsecured and I have a pre-approval? Should I do secured? I was looking into SDFCU and their secured card but I'm confused on if you can be denied for that, or if so long as you put money in the account BEFORE applying you're golden...

I would ideally like to get something that is a VISA card, as I'll probably use the card once a month or so for my gas or my prescriptions at Costco, which is VISA-only. But if I can't get something thru VISA, not the end of the world. I'll just throw my Apple One membership on it or something like that in lieu of Costco charges.

Many thanks to everyone for helping.

EDIT: Just want to add I logged into my Experian account to take a look at that Experian Boost product they have, and my FICO8 thru them is showing as 525 -- yikes. My Discover denial letter says the same score, also thru EX. "Key factors" are listed as:

- Serious Delinquency and Public Record or Collection Filed

- Too Few Accounts Currently Paid as Agreed (????)

- Number of Accounts with Delinquency (also ????)

- Time Since Delinquency is Too Recent or Unknown (I filed BK in 2/2021)

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Jnbmom — Wed, 19 May 2021 10:07:44 GMT

As has been mentioned before the only scores you should be focusing on are your FICO scores. You just filed BK yes your scores will suffer.

Also you mentioned denial letter from discover? Are you already applying before your discharge? If so not a smart move

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Horseshoez — Wed, 19 May 2021 10:45:39 GMT

@99BMWM3, your pre-discharge scores are irrelevant as are the scores from CreditKarma (and other sites of their ilk) as they are Vantage scores and not FICO, so you can pretty much ignore them. The only "free" FICO score available on a semi-regular basis is the score from Experian.

As for when to get back into the credit loop, most advice suggests waiting at least six weeks after your discharge (some even say twelve weeks), then pull your reports from all three credit bureaus, confirm all of your accounts are reporting properly, and only then applying for a credit card. I say this as someone who did not follow this recipe and I paid the price; I ended up with eight hard pulls and only one credit card to show for it; a credit card I didn't like and closed after only six weeks.

So, take it slow, plan your moves strategically, and apply for cards which can graduate into better cards you can keep for the long term.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

99BMWM3 — Wed, 19 May 2021 17:58:01 GMT

I'm not actually apping for products - my lawyer said I could, but I'm not comfortable pushing my luck there. I'm just checking for pre-qualification to see if anything turns up.

I won't do anything immediately after DC either. I'd rather wait 30-45 days and review credit reports for accuracy.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Horseshoez — Wed, 19 May 2021 18:08:57 GMT

@99BMWM3 wrote:
I'm not actually apping for products - my lawyer said I could, but I'm not comfortable pushing my luck there. I'm just checking for pre-qualification to see if anything turns up.

I won't do anything immediately after DC either. I'd rather wait 30-45 days and review credit reports for accuracy.

As the natives up here in New Hampshire say, "Wicked smaaat!"

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

99BMWM3 — Thu, 27 May 2021 22:29:50 GMT

We are officially discharged as of yesterday! Woohoo!

My question is this: In addition to making sure accounts are in order on my CRs before apping, do I also need to wait for the bankruptcy itself to appear as discharged on my credit report? How long does that take?

I have some late payments on my report from after my lawyer advised me to stop paying. Is it worth sending a mea culpa letter to the creditors asking for them to not report? I know they either have to report accurately or not at all, so would the damage of them not reporting accounts period be less? I feel like it may hurt more because without those accounts I have basically no credit file except for AU cards and auto/student loans.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Horseshoez — Fri, 28 May 2021 00:30:11 GMT

@99BMWM3 wrote:
We are officially discharged as of yesterday! Woohoo!

My question is this: In addition to making sure accounts are in order on my CRs before apping, do I also need to wait for the bankruptcy itself to appear as discharged on my credit report? How long does that take?

I have some late payments on my report from after my lawyer advised me to stop paying. Is it worth sending a mea culpa letter to the creditors asking for them to not report? I know they either have to report accurately or not at all, so would the damage of them not reporting accounts period be less? I feel like it may hurt more because without those accounts I have basically no credit file except for AU cards and auto/student loans.

Congratulations on the discharge.

Regarding the derogs on your report, they should all drop off without you doing anything.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Jnbmom — Fri, 28 May 2021 00:58:52 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
We are officially discharged as of yesterday! Woohoo!

My question is this: In addition to making sure accounts are in order on my CRs before apping, do I also need to wait for the bankruptcy itself to appear as discharged on my credit report? How long does that take?

I have some late payments on my report from after my lawyer advised me to stop paying. Is it worth sending a mea culpa letter to the creditors asking for them to not report? I know they either have to report accurately or not at all, so would the damage of them not reporting accounts period be less? I feel like it may hurt more because without those accounts I have basically no credit file except for AU cards and auto/student loans.
Congratulations on the discharge.

Regarding the derogs on your report, they should all drop off without you doing anything.

Were these lates "PRIOR" to your BK filing?

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

99BMWM3 — Fri, 28 May 2021 02:09:30 GMT

@Jnbmom wrote:
@Horseshoez wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
We are officially discharged as of yesterday! Woohoo!

My question is this: In addition to making sure accounts are in order on my CRs before apping, do I also need to wait for the bankruptcy itself to appear as discharged on my credit report? How long does that take?

I have some late payments on my report from after my lawyer advised me to stop paying. Is it worth sending a mea culpa letter to the creditors asking for them to not report? I know they either have to report accurately or not at all, so would the damage of them not reporting accounts period be less? I feel like it may hurt more because without those accounts I have basically no credit file except for AU cards and auto/student loans.
Congratulations on the discharge.

Regarding the derogs on your report, they should all drop off without you doing anything.
Were these lates "PRIOR" to your BK filing?

Yes, they were. They're from Sep. 2020 - Jan. 2021, none for February because I filed right at the beginning of the month before any of my due dates.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

99BMWM3 — Fri, 28 May 2021 02:11:47 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
We are officially discharged as of yesterday! Woohoo!

My question is this: In addition to making sure accounts are in order on my CRs before apping, do I also need to wait for the bankruptcy itself to appear as discharged on my credit report? How long does that take?

I have some late payments on my report from after my lawyer advised me to stop paying. Is it worth sending a mea culpa letter to the creditors asking for them to not report? I know they either have to report accurately or not at all, so would the damage of them not reporting accounts period be less? I feel like it may hurt more because without those accounts I have basically no credit file except for AU cards and auto/student loans.
Congratulations on the discharge.

Regarding the derogs on your report, they should all drop off without you doing anything.

Really, they'll just disappear? I thought the late payments would stick on the CRs because they are from before I filed BK. I don't have any other kind of derogs except those few late payments (I think 8 total over the entire time window), so if they do drop off then that would be great.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Horseshoez — Fri, 28 May 2021 02:24:28 GMT

@99BMWM3 wrote:
@Horseshoez wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
We are officially discharged as of yesterday! Woohoo!

My question is this: In addition to making sure accounts are in order on my CRs before apping, do I also need to wait for the bankruptcy itself to appear as discharged on my credit report? How long does that take?

I have some late payments on my report from after my lawyer advised me to stop paying. Is it worth sending a mea culpa letter to the creditors asking for them to not report? I know they either have to report accurately or not at all, so would the damage of them not reporting accounts period be less? I feel like it may hurt more because without those accounts I have basically no credit file except for AU cards and auto/student loans.
Congratulations on the discharge.

Regarding the derogs on your report, they should all drop off without you doing anything.
Really, they'll just disappear? I thought the late payments would stick on the CRs because they are from before I filed BK. I don't have any other kind of derogs except those few late payments (I think 8 total over the entire time window), so if they do drop off then that would be great.

While I'm not completely sure of the mechanism, all of my actual derogs fell off within a few months after my discharge (and trust me, there were a LOT of late payments as there were roughly a dozen credit lines in my name being used by my *former* business partner, credit lines I didn't know existed, and by the time I filed there were probably over 100 90-day lates); the only "derog" per-se which is still on my report was a car loan which I did not reaffirm, which was never late, and which was paid in full. That is still sitting on my credit report and apparently will continue to do so until my bankruptcy falls off my reports next February.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

99BMWM3 — Fri, 28 May 2021 02:27:31 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
@Horseshoez wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
We are officially discharged as of yesterday! Woohoo!

My question is this: In addition to making sure accounts are in order on my CRs before apping, do I also need to wait for the bankruptcy itself to appear as discharged on my credit report? How long does that take?

I have some late payments on my report from after my lawyer advised me to stop paying. Is it worth sending a mea culpa letter to the creditors asking for them to not report? I know they either have to report accurately or not at all, so would the damage of them not reporting accounts period be less? I feel like it may hurt more because without those accounts I have basically no credit file except for AU cards and auto/student loans.
Congratulations on the discharge.

Regarding the derogs on your report, they should all drop off without you doing anything.
Really, they'll just disappear? I thought the late payments would stick on the CRs because they are from before I filed BK. I don't have any other kind of derogs except those few late payments (I think 8 total over the entire time window), so if they do drop off then that would be great.
While I'm not completely sure of the mechanism, all of my actual derogs fell off within a few months after my discharge; the only "derog" per-se which is still on my report was a car loan which I did not reaffirm, which was never late, and which was paid in full. That is still sitting on my credit report and apparently will continue to do so until my bankruptcy falls off my reports next February.

I just took a peek at my EX report, AMEX actually continued to report lates even after the petition was filed, and Synchrony reported no lates until February and then reported 90 days even though a petition was already filed. I'm going to follow this guide for getting things cleaned up -- although it says I can pull reports 10 days after the discharge versus the 30-45 I've heard elsewhere.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Horseshoez — Fri, 28 May 2021 02:30:04 GMT

@99BMWM3, like I wrote above, I think it took a few months post-discharge, four or five actually, before all of my accounts fell off. As for taking action to get them to fall off earlier, I was strongly counsled to "not poke the bear" and let them fall of when they fell off. Here's the thing, they were old enough the late payments themselves weren't really hurting much, however, the balances and ages of the accounts were definitely helping my credit scores, and when they fell off, virtually all of my scores dropped, some by as much as 50 points. The good news is said scores have since recovered, but it was quite a shock to see scores drop from ~650 to ~600 because some credit cards included in my bankruptcy fell off.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Jnbmom — Fri, 28 May 2021 02:58:36 GMT

@99BMWM3 wrote:
@Horseshoez wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
We are officially discharged as of yesterday! Woohoo!

My question is this: In addition to making sure accounts are in order on my CRs before apping, do I also need to wait for the bankruptcy itself to appear as discharged on my credit report? How long does that take?

I have some late payments on my report from after my lawyer advised me to stop paying. Is it worth sending a mea culpa letter to the creditors asking for them to not report? I know they either have to report accurately or not at all, so would the damage of them not reporting accounts period be less? I feel like it may hurt more because without those accounts I have basically no credit file except for AU cards and auto/student loans.
Congratulations on the discharge.

Regarding the derogs on your report, they should all drop off without you doing anything.
Really, they'll just disappear? I thought the late payments would stick on the CRs because they are from before I filed BK. I don't have any other kind of derogs except those few late payments (I think 8 total over the entire time window), so if they do drop off then that would be great.

If the lates occurred prior to filing BK, they will remain on your record.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Horseshoez — Fri, 28 May 2021 12:40:28 GMT

@Jnbmom wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
@Horseshoez wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
We are officially discharged as of yesterday! Woohoo!

My question is this: In addition to making sure accounts are in order on my CRs before apping, do I also need to wait for the bankruptcy itself to appear as discharged on my credit report? How long does that take?

I have some late payments on my report from after my lawyer advised me to stop paying. Is it worth sending a mea culpa letter to the creditors asking for them to not report? I know they either have to report accurately or not at all, so would the damage of them not reporting accounts period be less? I feel like it may hurt more because without those accounts I have basically no credit file except for AU cards and auto/student loans.
Congratulations on the discharge.

Regarding the derogs on your report, they should all drop off without you doing anything.
Really, they'll just disappear? I thought the late payments would stick on the CRs because they are from before I filed BK. I don't have any other kind of derogs except those few late payments (I think 8 total over the entire time window), so if they do drop off then that would be great.
If the lates occurred prior to filing BK, they will remain on your record.

Not in my experience; not a single late remained.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

jmw1 — Fri, 28 May 2021 15:00:27 GMT

Slow WAY down.

If you wait and do nothing for two to four months, your credit report will probably be clean by then without any action and you will have better results from your apps. You don't need to go all aggressive and all. After the first set of apps, you are best served by gardening for a year.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Horseshoez — Fri, 28 May 2021 15:35:22 GMT

@jmw1 wrote:
Slow WAY down.

If you wait and do nothing for two to four months, your credit report will probably be clean by then without any action and you will have better results from your apps. You don't need to go all aggressive and all. After the first set of apps, you are best served by gardening for a year.

^THIS!

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Fri, 28 May 2021 20:53:19 GMT

@Jnbmom wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
@Horseshoez wrote:
@99BMWM3 wrote:
We are officially discharged as of yesterday! Woohoo!

My question is this: In addition to making sure accounts are in order on my CRs before apping, do I also need to wait for the bankruptcy itself to appear as discharged on my credit report? How long does that take?

I have some late payments on my report from after my lawyer advised me to stop paying. Is it worth sending a mea culpa letter to the creditors asking for them to not report? I know they either have to report accurately or not at all, so would the damage of them not reporting accounts period be less? I feel like it may hurt more because without those accounts I have basically no credit file except for AU cards and auto/student loans.
Congratulations on the discharge.

Regarding the derogs on your report, they should all drop off without you doing anything.
Really, they'll just disappear? I thought the late payments would stick on the CRs because they are from before I filed BK. I don't have any other kind of derogs except those few late payments (I think 8 total over the entire time window), so if they do drop off then that would be great.
If the lates occurred prior to filing BK, they will remain on your record.

My lates all vanished either upon filing or discharge. I forget which. I think it was Equifax but I'm not sure. Over some future period of time, all of the lates vanished. As an aside, those lates don't really matter once you have an IIB chargeoff. You are getting the hit for the chargeoff and the lates are just informational. Also I had some issues where my cards were reported as charged off the month of filing (even those with perfect credit and not balance), then the months between filing and discharge, there was no rating, and then the month of discharge it once again showed the IIB chargeoff. My discharge was in November 2013. For some reason Cap 1 Auto reported another late on 1/1/2014, even though I hadn't reaffirmed, and it was clearly wrong but no matter how much I disputed it just stayed there. I finally gave up and let it be until it fell off. I did dispute all of my IIB accounts and over time they almost all came off. Also sometimes lender just, for no reason, deleted the IIB accounts. Just know that everything that shows on discharge is not going to stay there for seven years.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Fri, 28 May 2021 21:38:54 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@99BMWM3, like I wrote above, I think it took a few months post-discharge, four or five actually, before all of my accounts fell off. As for taking action to get them to fall off earlier, I was strongly counsled to "not poke the bear" and let them fall of when they fell off. Here's the thing, they were old enough the late payments themselves weren't really hurting much, however, the balances and ages of the accounts were definitely helping my credit scores, and when they fell off, virtually all of my scores dropped, some by as much as 50 points. The good news is said scores have since recovered, but it was quite a shock to see scores drop from ~650 to ~600 because some credit cards included in my bankruptcy fell off.

We each had different experiences. I certainly never doubt what someone says their experience has been. For me I think there were four IIB accounts left (2 Chase, 1 BofA and 1 Cap 1 auto that was paid in full) and 15 IIB's had fallen off before the 7 year mark, but when my IIB's fell off at 7 years (less a couple of months for early exclusion), all three of my FICO 8's jumped 60-75 points and my FICO 9's jumped about 40 points although my FICO 9's were already quite a bit higher. What amazes me is that my current EQ FICO 9 sits at 842 with my BK 7 reporting for 2.5 more years. My FICO 8's are 767, 775 and 776. Sadly my 5/4/2 mortgage scores are 724, 725 and 744.

Re: BK7 Discharge Imminent - I can't decide which path/card is right?

Horseshoez — Fri, 28 May 2021 23:57:52 GMT

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
What amazes me is that my current EQ FICO 9 sits at 842 with my BK 7 reporting for 2.5 more years. My FICO 8's are 767, 775 and 776. Sadly my 5/4/2 mortgage scores are 724, 725 and 744.

Interesting, your 5/4/2 numbers are very similar to mine, 711, 739, 724, but wow, all your other numbers are waaaay above mine; your FICO 8s are easily 100 above mine. I'm so looking forward to when my Chapter 13 drops off my reports next January.